Developers, Engineers & Architects

Saves space

With no need for a large dedicated area to house bulky boilers, there is greater potential to maximize the use of available floor space.

Greater architectural freedom

Connecting to a community energy system provides more architectural freedom than individual boiler systems. Benefits include:

No need for mechanical room rooftop pillboxes

No stack on the roof to interfere with design lines

Terraces, gardens and open spaces can be better utilized

Building emissions are significantly reduced or eliminated

With no need to store combustible fuels, buildings are safer

Leave a better legacy

Connecting to Creative Energy’s community energy system can help you build better buildings. A greener neighbourhood is much more effective at lowering greenhouse gas emissions than individual green buildings that each have their own energy system. Creative Energy lets you add a reliable, low maintenance, cost-effective and low carbon energy system to a building. The owners and stratas will thank you for it. Read more owner and strata benefits.

Capital cost savings

Creative Energy removes the need for boilers in buildings, which saves capital and operating costs and means less infrastructure to maintain or replace. A connection to the Creative Energy network also takes up far less building space than boilers, and it removes the need for the storage of combustible fuels. These cost savings also lower your reserve fund, allowing you to allocate funds for other things.

Fuel flexibility

A central community energy plant has the flexibility to use different fuels such as wood and sewage waste, and the ability to switch to whichever fuel is most economical or available at any given time. If gas prices go through the roof a community energy system can switch to another fuel source, but with a gas boiler there’s nothing you can do other than undertake a costly replacement.

Less maintenance

Building owners and stratas are not in the energy business; they just want to run the building well. With community energy, repairs and servicing are managed centrally, and a central plant is easier to update to incorporate advances in technology than multiple separate boilers. In addition, when a boiler fails early and needs to be repaired or replaced, the strata has to pay in full. With Creative Energy, the risk of failure is pooled across a large group.

Competitive rates

A central utility delivers bigger returns and the cost per capita is lower. It’s cheaper to finance and is a very robust platform, which is meaningful to individual residents. In addition, Creative Energy is a bulk purchaser of gas, leading to savings that are passed to customers. Over time a community energy system becomes more and more cost effective as more and more people join the network. The flexibility of community energy to use alternative fuels also reduces residents’ exposure to future gas price fluctuations.

Lower GHG emissions

Using a central plant instead of multiple boilers in individual buildings reduces emissions and leads to cleaner air. A central plant is also better positioned to take advantage of alternative fuels such as waste heat, solar energy, bioenergy and sewage heat. Switching the existing Creative Energy plant to alternative fuels will cut GHG emissions by more than 80,000 tonnes a year – the equivalent of taking 20,000 cars a year off the road.

Long-term sustainability

Community energy systems are more efficient, more robust and flexible over the long-term. The ability to use renewable fuels that replenish themselves over time if harvested correctly makes the system highly sustainable, and the ability to use wood waste to generate heat reduces the costs and environmental impact involved in its disposal. Being able to use local fuels also reduces the risk, expense and environmental impact of relying on remote fuel sources.

Robust, reliable system

Community energy systems are extremely reliable, which is why cities around the world are increasingly adopting them. Creative Energy’s Beatty St plant has a reputation for 99.9% reliability over 45 years of continuous operation, with a round the clock team of professionals constantly monitoring the system.

Regulated by the BC Utilities Commission

Creative Energy is regulated by the British Columbia Utilities Commission (BCUC), which is responsible for ensuring that customers receive safe, reliable and non-discriminatory energy services at fair rates from regulated utilities. Read the BCUC’s regulatory guidelines.

24/7 monitoring for peace of mind

With individual boilers a fault could go unnoticed for weeks or months leading to inefficient operation or worse. You may not know a building is ‘broken’ until it’s too late and expensive repairs are needed. Central monitoring flags problems when they occur so they can be fixed immediately.